Multimedia broadcast multicast services (MBMS) are multimedia and other services that may be communicated over a cellular network. For example, television station broadcasts or other streaming multimedia may be communicated over a cellular network to be received and displayed by user equipment. The MBMS may be communicated from an enhanced node B (ENB) to user equipment using point-to-point (PTP) communication or point-to-multipoint (PTM) communication.
PTP communication is similar to conventional cellular network communication in that there is a dedicated radio bearer between the ENB and the user equipment. PTP communication from the ENB may enable high quality communication with the user equipment in part because of the two-way nature of the communication between the user equipment and the ENB using various enhancements such as Hybrid-ARQ and the fast link adaptation. When a large number of user equipment communicate with an ENB using PTP communication, a substantial amount of overhead may be required for establishing and maintaining the PTP communications and a substantial amount of the available spectrum may be occupied.
PTM communication may include utilizing a dedicated channel or dedicated carrier to broadcast data or services to multiple users. While a certain amount of overhead may be required to initiate a broadcast PTM communication, the overhead is relatively small and may not vary in relation to the number of user equipment. That is, as more user equipment utilize the broadcast data or services, the overhead required to establish and maintain the broadcast PTM communication remains approximately the same. Broadcast PTM communications may also improve spectral efficiency as the number of user equipment increases because no new transmissions are required for new added users. In some cases, the quality of broadcast PTM communications may be less than that for PTP communications since there is little or no communication from the user equipment, power considerations, and other factors which may reduce the relative quality of the communication.